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(Updated 7/15/2021)
There are several blogging mistakes I see bloggers (especially newbies) making without knowing that they’re hurting their blogging business. The primary reason you’re creating blog posts is to attract new readers and also retain your existing readership. So it is important to avoid these blogging pitfalls.
Moreover, your blog will benefit from SEO juices if you do it right. So to enjoy a good relationship with Google and attract new readers, you need to put together the required components that will help you accomplish your goals.
If you can put the pieces together, you will make your blog profitable. But you might be wondering, what are the blogging mistakes that are hurting your blog’s success?
In this article, you’ll discover six blogging mistakes that are damaging your blog’s profitability.
1: You’re Not Writing to a Defined Reader
You don’t know your readers in this context means that you do not have a defined audience for your blog. Let’s face it, blog posts that attract much engagement and go viral have with a particular reader in mind. The author wrote the blogs for an ideal reader, and his posts connect with his target audience because it addresses his pain point.
For instance, let’s say your reader is at the beginning stage of his blogging journey, where he is most concerned about how to create a profitable blog. Instead of providing the best tips for setting up a useful blog, you offer solutions on how to get featured on authority blogs.
Do you think the reader would be interested in reading that article? Quite frankly, he will not. But if he has gone past that stage, he will most appreciate getting featured on popular blogs. Here is another example.
There difference between a preschooler and a college student is that the child cannot understand  a single thing from reading books for college students. Why? It is because the writer wrote the books with college students in mind.
Hence, your reader, who is at the beginning stage of their blogging journey is like the preschooler. In other words, you cannot possibly provide useful blog content if you do not know your ideal reader.
So it is essential to identify your target audience and provide value according to the stage of each buyer’s journey. It will help you to build a loyal blogging community, and grow your small business blog fast.
2: You Don’t Know How to Deal With Blogger’s Block
Blogger’s block is one of the primary reasons why you’re unproductive, But what is blogger’s block? It is a condition where you stopped coming up with new ideas for your blog. It is a time when you have a creative slump.
Thus, to be successful in your blogging business, you should know how to deal with blogger’s block. It is something that affects all writers, no matter your niche market. However, it’s not a bad thing since we’re human and have our weaknesses.
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But you need to know how to tackle your weaknesses and get back your creative juices. It will enable you to grow your blogging business faster. In light of this, how can you deal with writers’ block?
Darren Rowse of Problogger compiled a list of 25 actionable steps to battle bloggers block. So, establish a writing pattern that aids you to be always motivated. If you can deal with writers’ block, you have solved one blogging mistake that is hurting your blogging business.
3: Your Headlines Are Not Catchy
The idea of using catchy headlines in your blog content is to make it more enticing and generate more clicks. If you write an informative article and no one reads it, all your efforts will go in vain. Hence, not using captivating titles is hurting your blog because no one is clicking to read your posts.
Your blog post headline will determine whether people should click to read or not. If it is catchy enough, it will get more clicks and also compel users to share your blogs across social media sites.
So test your title to determine the most compelling one for your article. It is even more important now to use irresistible headings since marketers are publishing a gazillion of blog content daily.
So how can you stand out from the crowd? That is where a compelling headline comes to play. According to research, 80% of your site visitors will not make it past the title. You can evaluate your competitors’ posts to figure out why their content is performing better than yours.
Look at how they write headings and take inspiration from there. Or you can use headline generators to come up with catchy titles.
4: You’re Not Using Literary Devices
Using literary devices in your blog post is essential to your blogging success. Why is that so? It makes the significance and objective of your blog content more transparent to the reader. But you may wonder;
What Are Literary Devices?
Literary devices are writing elements such as words, symbols, phrases, etc., which writers employ to express their ideas to accomplish optimal results. It gives the reader a general understanding of the writer’s concept.
Several bloggers use literary techniques to clarify and emphasize ideas to help the reader to connect with the overall theme. Some popular literary devices you can apply to your blog are:
Metaphor
Allegory
Hypophora
Hyperbole
Imagery
Etc.
For example, Ryan Biddulph uses imagery, metaphor, and allegory regularly to convey his thoughts to the reader. He always employs these writing elements to connect his readers to his traveling escapades and other adventures.
In most cases, you can identify these components in his storylines within the intro or body of content. It makes the reader stick to reading the rest of the post.
5: You Don’t Apply Proper Formatting
How is the structure of your blog posts? Are they well-formatted? One thing that distinguishes a fantastic blog is excellent formatting. So have a look around your blog; are your posts looking great in terms of format?
Bear in mind that poor blog formatting equals poor readability, which also accounts for a higher bounce rate. Thus, if you sense that your articles need brushing up, start working on them to improve readability.
You will enjoy this YouTube video on how Ryan Biddulph breaks down the skill of writing and formatting to enhance your blog traffic. So since visitors only care about their problems, how can you format your blog posts to make them more appealing to the reader?
Here are a few tips:
- Write short paragraphs
- Use the H tags (H2, H3, and H4) where appropriate
- Use bullet points to break up your post
- Create more white spaces
These steps will improve the readability of your blog post by making scannable and easy to read. It will boost your page dwell time and grow your blogging business.
6: You Publish Your Blogs Without Proofreading and Proper Editing
After completing your draft, do you take time to read it over and a couple of times to make sure it is error-free? We all make mistakes, but it’s up to you to fix it. Ask yourself, why do bloggers have the habit of reworking old blog content?
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It could be that they want to update outdated strategies. Or they may want to correct spelling and grammar errors which they missed the first time the article went live. So not proofreading your posts and edit them correctly is costing you money.
If you’re in the freelance writing business like me, you will lose your clients because no one would pay for an error-filled blog post. Did you know? 60% of site visitors will not return to a business blog that has plenty of spelling and grammatical errors.
Similarly, you will lose your target audience since they too will not be reading such articles.
However, if you don’t know how to edit your blogs, outsource it. Use blogging tools to help you with grammar and spelling mistakes.
Here are some of the best tools you can use:
- Hemingway
- Atomic Writer
- Pro Writing Aid
- Grammarly
These tools are great in detecting spelling and grammar mistakes. Use them to improve your blog and boost your personal brand.
Wrapping Up
We have outlined six blogging mistakes you’re making that are costing you money. However, your ability to tackle these mistakes correctly will help you to become a successful blogger. Did we miss anything?
Please, don’t hesitate to tell us in the section below.
About the Author: Moss Clement helps business owners increase engagement, generate leads, improve sales, and scale their businesses at Writers Per Hour.